Description

A foreign bloodline thrives proudly within this one. Her strongly but softly sculpted features in the rounded, youthful face, all curves just like the rest of her; dark hair that flows and tangles and weaves into the rare braid and trinket; full lips that contrast in their near mauve paleness against her warm, light brown skin, under which a faintly red tone marks her lively blood strong beneath. All these traits place her far from Westeros.

Where uncovered by the loose-fitting garb she chooses — a ragtag mixture of cheap but colourful smallfolk attire and exotic fabrics clamped together with jewelry, robe-like but for bared arms and hints of collarbone and legs — small scars nick that skin here and there. She has not lived easily, but all five-foot-one of Eva stands with as much strength and ease as a man twice her size. Her eyes stand out more than anything, examples of "cat-shaped" so intense as to overpower the rest of her youthful face. Certainly, the illogically bright brown irises, murky eyeshadow, and darker-than-night kohl sharply lancing the inner bottom lines of her eyes and smearing down into oily black and peacock hues, destroy what might have otherwise been the cherubic innocence of her face. Perhaps not. There's an air of hedonism about this woman that suggests she is frankly incapable of innocence.

She speaks with a heavy Lorathi accent, its harshness tempered by the lilting, feminine quality of her voice.

Background

Evallash grew up poor and happy among the Free Cities, Lorathi by birth, living a life that held joy and freedom in higher honour than career and discipline. She came from a large family but never felt quite connected to them; not out of any ill will or even conflict; Eva was simply her own free spirit, set apart, left to her own devices. As she grew, those devices gradually turned from happy playing and horseback-riding to hedonistic exploration of the underbelly of human nature, drawn to taboos over tradition. Not only was she a free spirit, but something of a dark soul. She tended to either care less about those who cared for her or care entirely in excess; loving completely or not at all.

As a teenager, she caught a ship to Braavos and worked odd jobs — from whoring to brewery and perfumery assistant — around Ragman's Harbour until securing work upon a Braavosi merchant ship. A quick learner and better faker, she was nevertheless shunted off that first ship for not providing enough use to the crew once refusing her body; she hopped from ship to ship, picking up seafaring, language and trade knowledge as she went— along with friends and enemies, testament to her both playful and brashly opinionated nature. After years of this salty lifestyle, she could hold her own amongst crew — occasionally garbing herself androgynously upon occasional vessels that didn't first take to a woman holding the same stature as the men. She learned the merchantry trade: haggling, scouting deals, sizing up wares; she was good at everything about it, and her magnetic personality and charms oft provided an additional boost to business, bargaining down wholesale prices left and right and getting her soft and sneaky hands on rare items to sell at the next port. Her longest endeavour was upon the largest merchant ship she'd ever worked aboard — but though she proved profitable for the captain, her constant brazen critique of his business acumen and stirring of doubt amongst the crew eventually resulted in her captivity. The captain saw fit to bind her below deck as an example to what happens to those who question his authority; unlikely, however, that her former comrades would have done to each other what they did to her, equal turned bound slave.

She was sold to a passing slaver at the next Essos port and quickly sold off to a buyer closer to her homelands who, in turn, quickly sold the disobeying foreign slave again, a trend that continued to get her jolted from place to place — and barely with her life intact. She took to some of the depraved tasks of a slave that would make the others cringe, but to be trodden upon and pushed to obey was not Eva's fate. Her spitfire could not be beaten out — nor her sly self-made smarts. The singular time she was not sold off at her then-master's behest was due to the fact that he and every grown member of his family had been poisoned.

Mysterious.

It was then that Eva was handed to a slaver of strong and merciless repute, a man whose true name had never graced the lips of anyone whom he encountered; all knew Mourda was a moniker. He was intriguing to Eva; she saw a dark and circuitous power in him that matched hers, only he was in a position of power and she was not. When she was sold to her next master, a long-time acquaintance of the slaver, she was abruptly sent back for impertinence and spying upon the household. Before she could be (further) reprimanded for her behaviour, she provided Mourda an item of great worth thieved from the house of her would-be owner as well as the fact that he had paid for her in counterfeit coin.

From then on, Eva became the slaver's personal companion — personal slave, that is, but as he grew to see in her what she saw in him, he protected and valued her worth. Over years, she rose from owned whore to business partner, a privilege that came with extremely rare honours. Secrets. Mourda, as it happens, not only traded in slaves, but in more secretive dealings under the alias The Black Eel … a creature of the sea so black and slippery, he's able to squirm into the darkest corners, the deepest depths to find whatever depraved fantasy a person wants turned into reality, from arranged physical encounters more unusual than the average whorer's to the comparably mundane (illicit illustrations and writings, items of unique depravity); all things at fall under the sexually shocking or deviant. Whisper of The Black Eel and, for a price, it is yours, under a strict shroud of privacy — after all, nobles are not exempt from desires. The Black Eel had been serving main ports of Westeros for years, finding a niche; after all, where slavery is criminalized, men are thirstier.

He was difficult to reach; but a whisper, himself. Eva worked as the ideal go-between for customers and The Black Eel, who very rarely met anyone face-to-face and, even then, insisted upon concealment. With her sharp mind, warm charms, and natural manipulations dedicated to the cause, The Black Eel's business began to thrive more than ever before, settled mainly in Oldtown. Eva took up side-jobs, usually around the Docks, through which her darker business was made accessible; as a dancer (a fortunate skill she picked up in her unfortunate slave days), a seller; she was easily approachable, able to plant seeds and offer under-the-counter items and promises to those in need. While The Black Eel's face remained a mystery, it was Eva's who became known as the one to seek — amongst those in the know.

By day, she presently works as a helping hand to an aging, half-blind merchant of so-called fine perfumes and candles who doesn't seem to mind or notice when she sells more pornographic wares on the side or subtly arranges meetings; like most, he thinks her a whore and foreign grifter.

Quirks

Brazen

Foreigner: Lorathi

Keeper of Others' Secrets

Sadistic

Unique Moral Code

Wealth: Middle Class

RP Hooks

The Black Eel

The Black Eel is a criminal underbelly figure who has slyly been serving Oldtown for years who few have seen him in person. The Black Eel entails all things sexually secret or depraved; whisper of Eel and obtain your desires, it's said, from simple bawdy things such as illicit drawings, blush-and-faint-worthy written tales and items; the Eel can arrange more real encounters discreetly, and, on the darkest spectrum, such encounters may be tailored to a person's darkest, most dangerous sins … for a price. Some hint that disappearances and murders can be linked to The Black Eel, but no such thing has been proven, as secrecy is of the highest order. Eva is the hands, ears and mouthpiece of The Black Eel.

The Free Cities: Foreigners need to stick together or… something.

Underbelly: Eva knows, and is known by, much of the criminal dirt of Oldtown, specially the Thieves Market, as a haughty but pleasing foreigner with sharp business acumen. There is a network of "trusted" hired hands who aid The Black Eel in various criminal acts, be it physical labour, keeping an ear to the ground, or providing anonymous services for The Black Eel's clientele, and Eva deals with all of them. She also deals with the individuals whose less living products they can mark up and sell; artists (porn is an art…), erotic writers … even smithies.

Merchants & Buyers More innocently, Eva knows many local merchants and those who buy from the perfume & candle stand she works at; less innocently, she occasionally shirks them, but they haven't seemed to notice yet…

Secrets Galore: The dirty kind no one wants out in the open. The kinds of things Eva knows the predilections of some of the residents of Oldtown (and some abroad) could potentially destroy reputations, making her a clear target for anyone who knows this and wants those secrets told, though her mouth, and that of the Black Eel, is said to be permanently sealed on such private matters; that's why anyone is confident enough to seek them out in confidence in the first place.

Art: Eva is trying to make her own art by copying the works of others, but her attention span could use some work. Or a mentor.

Former Slave: Eva used to be a slave on Essos and might know others who were enslaved with her as well as former owners and their kin … potentially of one family who died immediately after her departure from them. And, despite her former enslavement, she was also closely acquainted with the successful slaver Mourda who often passed through Oldtown for both legal and illegal business, though he has not been active in such trade for a few years (those who knew him may know more of his whereabouts).

Days at Sea: Eva used to rove the seas with several different merchant ships (some Braavosi, others open, potentially pirates) and has reputations ranging from fondly remembered to literally kicked off for being too outspoken or conniving.

Relationships

XhaboPrince of the Undercity - dear Xhabo Duna and all his power. He is to Loraquo what I am to the Black Eel and without him business would be marred.

PeriStolen Pearl of Lys - beautiful mischievous drowned mermaid, a former concubine making her own way in this world. We will do more business.

IsadorRed Witch - so much potential.

TrystanLord Banefort - a face I seem to run into commonly; I doubt he is sly enough to appear so often on purpose.

LexanderBusiness Partner -Lex. The man who knows a man. We have an understanding; he is more useful than most.

Quotes

"I once knew a man who liked to be scalded with water so hot it came close to rending his flesh. Hotter, he would say. Boil more, he would say. And so I would. Eventually, he passed out. As red as a ruby."

"Perhaps you should have stabbed him, and you would have one less enemy."